By Glen Johnson
Boston - A 10-ton construction platform collapsed and crashed 13 storeys on to a busy downtown street, killing three people and crushing cars stopped in midday traffic.
Witnesses described hearing a rumble, then the crash of scaffolding that kicked up metal, dust and boards on Boylston Street, which runs along the south side of Boston Common.
The platform lift system and scaffolding were set up atop a new building next to a 14-storey dormitory being constructed by Emerson College.
They had been used to install a stone facade and were being dismantled when the accident occurred, said acting Fire Commissioner Kevin MacCurtain.
Falling debris crushed a car, killing Michael Tsan Ty, 28, of Boston, police said. Two construction workers, Robert E Beane, 41, of Baldwinville and Romildo Silva, 27, of Somerville, also died in the accident.
Two people were injured, said fire Lieutenant David M Pfeil.
The company is still investigating, said John D. Macomber, president and CEO of Macomber Builders, the lead contractor hired by Emerson.
"It looks as though one of the moving, movable scaffoldings fell off the side of the building out toward Boylston Street and down. We don't know why that happened yet," Macomber said at a news conference.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Macomber Builders more than 10 times since 2004, including more than five citations for "serious" scaffolding or fall-protection violations.
"Generally OSHA is very pleased with us and the other leading contractors in Boston," Macomber said.
It was a scary scene for those nearby.
"I had just walked through the spot where it fell when I heard this roar," said Dan Rofsky, 19, an Emerson freshman from New Jersey. "I just saw this cloud of dust and smoke."
No students were injured, said David Rosen, Emerson's vice president of public affairs. The building - a dormitory and campus centre - has been under construction for nearly two years and was scheduled to open for the fall semester, he said.
Brian Trimmer, assistant manager of Commonwealth Books nearby, said he looked out the store's front window just as a 2,4 to 3-m chunk of machinery crashed on to a mid-size silver Honda.
"I saw this large orange thing fall out of the sky on top of a car," Trimmer said. "It flattened it."
Macomber, based in south Boston, has been in business for more than 100 years and helped build Boston's Faneuil Hall Marketplace, according to the company's website. - Sapa-AP